Bernard Buffet was a French Expressionist who was once lionized like Picasso in the world of art.

But that popularity was held only briefly in his home country. Buffet’s career peaked after WWII, when France still harbored political, social and geographical scars from the war. Critics hailed his unique brand of expressionism with its use of sharply angular lines, dark colors, and black humor as a powerful reflection of modern life. At the age of 27, he was chosen as the most brilliant post-war artist in France

Picasso thought his work was vile, however, and popularized a critical backlash on Buffet in the late '50’s. The censure of his work became so strong, that no working French academic took his paintings seriously. In fact, it was not until 2016 that a French museum presented his work for the first time since.

Buffet was a very prolific artist, creating over 8,000 paintings in total. His wallet was also quite prolific. Buffet never struggled with money throughout his career, due to his enduring popularity with non-art professionals, and was known to live luxuriously. Interestingly, his work never suffered a critical reversal in other countries, particularly in Japan where there sits an entire museum dedicated to his work. He was also part of the “The Witness,” a group of figurative artists that were critical of abstract paintings (i.e. the prickly Picasso).

Most of his work recalls comic books with its thick lines in heavy black, and he was deeply influenced by French existentialists. The thoughts of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus can be seen in the radical lineaments of Buffet’s expressionism.

While he often painted clowns, which is perhaps his most famous subject, Buffet never stuck to one subject or theme. Among his works are chilling cityscapes, images of Joan D’arc, and skeletons in underwear.

He dated Pierre Bergé, the long-term life partner of Yves Saint Laurent and French industrialist, until they allegedly had a fight over Laurent in 1958. Bergé left Buffet for Laurent and Buffet soon married Annabelle, his wife until his death in 1999.

He took his own life at the age of 71. Buffet did not take his life due to issues with fame, family, or insolvency, but the increasing bodily degeneration he felt from Parkinson’s disease.

In the late 2000s his work saw a widespread revival, which continues to develop, particularly in France. He’s got to be one of the few (if not the only artist) to have such a meteoric rise into acclaim and then an even faster fall into denunciation, only to rise back up from the ashes. Take that, art world. Talent is talent.